Rajagiriya

It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t read about the venomous snakes of Sri Lanka before our visit to Borella Kanatte cemetery in Colombo!

Sticking to the paved paths is the safest bet, but we were searching for Arthur C. Clark’s grave, and this required much wandering through the grass.

Our tuk tuk driver, Indika, is Catholic, but he can read and speak Singhalese, so he was able to interpret many of the epitaphs for me along the way.

After the Catholic section, we wandered into the Buddhist section, where my favorite mausoleum featured skeletons, elephants, swans, and the traditional Buddhist wheel.

Indika showed me the grave of a famous Sri Lankan “sing song lady” whose monument is shaped like a sitar.

After an hour and a half, Larry finally found Arthur C. Clark’s grave. There was still a lot more to see, but by then we were melting from the heat, so we hopped back into Indika’s tuk tuk and went to a coffee shop.Read more